Man-Ki Yoon

Man-Ki Yoon serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University's College of Engineering. His academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2017), an M.S. from the same institution (2011), and a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from Seoul National University in Korea (2009). Prior to joining NC State, he worked as a research scientist in Computer Science at Yale University.

His educational background demonstrates a strong foundation in computer systems with progressive specialization in real-time and embedded computing. The transition from his undergraduate studies in Korea to doctoral research in the United States reflects an international academic trajectory focused on increasingly specialized aspects of computer systems.

Yoon's research centers on trustworthy and accountable computing for autonomous systems, with particular emphasis on autonomous vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles. His work bridges theoretical formal methods with practical security applications in real-time embedded systems and the Internet of Things. This research agenda addresses critical challenges in verifying temporal behavior of real-time applications while maintaining strong security guarantees against timing-based side channel attacks. His approach combines insights from operating systems, security, and distributed systems to develop novel solutions that enable reasoning about fault events, component responsibility, and evidence trustworthiness in complex cyber-physical environments.

Analysis of his recent publications reveals a clear evolution in research focus from foundational real-time scheduling problems toward increasingly sophisticated security mechanisms for autonomous systems. His work demonstrates consistent progression from theoretical verification techniques to practical implementations addressing accountability in distributed systems and security challenges in autonomous vehicle ecosystems. The publications show growing emphasis on AI/ML integration with traditional real-time systems, particularly in safety-critical applications where accountability and verifiability remain paramount.

• NCDOT Transportation Center of Excellence: Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure – Cyber–Resilient Traffic Management Centers
• Faculty Research and Professional Development Award
• IBM Workforce Development Initiative Award
• SaTC: CORE: Small: Partition-Oblivious Real-Time Hierarchical Scheduling
• Yale Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Grant
• Qualcomm Roberto Padovani Scholarship
• Intel PhD Fellowship
• Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship

Yoon actively mentors students through research projects and teaching, with numerous publications featuring student co-authors spanning topics from autonomous vehicle security to real-time system verification. His current NSF-funded research on partition-oblivious scheduling demonstrates significant grant acquisition capability, addressing fundamental security challenges in real-time hierarchical scheduling where conventional time-partitioning mechanisms fail to achieve strong temporal isolation from a security perspective. This work develops algorithmic solutions enabling non-interference-based security among partitions, allowing systems to employ advanced hardware and software technologies for high-end real-time applications in secure environments.

His laboratory environment emphasizes hands-on experimentation with autonomous systems, evidenced by his self-driving car course where students build software systems for miniaturized autonomous vehicles. This practical approach complements theoretical research with tangible implementations, creating a comprehensive research ecosystem that spans from formal verification to physical system deployment.